What Really Happened To Cobalt Team At Visegrad In Halo Season 2

Spoilers are ahead for Halo season 2, episode 3.

The mystery of what happened to Cobalt Team has plagued Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber), prompting him to take matters into his own armored hands at the end of Halo season 2, episode 2, “Sword.” After going above James Ackerson’s (Joseph Morgan) head and looking into Cobalt’s flightplan, the Chief learned that his fellow soldiers never left Reach. Instead, the squadron was sent to Visegrád, one of the planet’s comms relays. When John-117 rounds up Silver Team, he reveals something he’s felt in his gut since the glassing of Sanctuary: the Covenant is already on Reach.

Master Chief and Silver Team steal a Condor and head to Visegrád. The surrounding grounds are suspiciously quiet. Even when Kai (Kate Kennedy) reaches out to Cobalt Team, none of the squad’s elements return her radio call. Silver Team descends upon the communications structure to find it equally empty. As Vannak (Bentley Kalu) points out, after seeing an abandoned meal, whoever was stationed at the Visegrád comms relay left in a hurry. In the end, Master Chief is thwarted by UNSC forces who bring him back in on FLEETCOM’s orders, leaving Cobalt Team’s fate a mystery.

Cobalt Team Was Killed By The Covenant As Master Chief Suspected

Although John-117 is relieved from active duty after his Condor-stealing stint, it’s revealed that the Chief isn’t wrong about the Halo characters’ fates. While Silver Team doesn’t find any evidence of plasma-scarring or other telltale Covenant signs, UNSC forces uncover the truth, which is revealed to viewers toward the end of the episode. Admiral Keyes (Danny Sapani) assures John that he was nearly court-martialed for falsifying a flightplan and infiltrating Visegrád. According to Keyes, Cobalt Team was sent to Aktis IV; John’s eyes must have deceived him when he hacked into the mission data.

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After sending John-117 off to be evaluated by a psychology team, Keyes ends up learning the truth: Cobalt Team was sent to the Visegrád comms relay. Even though Cobalt is still listed as being on standby, the UNSC does know what happened to them. The members of Cobalt Team were found roughly 80 meters from the relay, their dead bodies hanging in the trees. With plasma scarring marking the scene of the team’s murder, it’s clear that the Covenant were responsible. When the bodies are brought to FLEETCOM, Ackerson decides that Cobalt Team should be officially listed as MIA.

Briggs & Keyes Learn That Master Chief Was Right

Keyes is disturbed to learn the truth — and that John-117 was right. The Spartan’s feeling about the Covenant being on Reach, which Keyes himself had dismissed as a “delusion,” was actually correct. Frustrated with James Ackerson, Halsey’s replacement and ONI head, Keyes suggests they inform their higher-ups of the tragedy and its implications. “Your superiors are already fully aware,” Ackerson tells Keyes without missing a beat. When Keyes suggests they initiate Halo‘s Winter Contingency — an evacuation plan of sorts — Ackerson shrugs off the admiral’s idea.

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Why Ackerson Lied About Cobalt Team’s Disappearance

As illustrated by Ackerson’s conversation with Cortana (Jen Taylor and Christina Bennington) during Halo season 2, episode 2’s ending, the new director of the Spartan program is well aware of the Covenants’ infiltration of Reach. The Cobalt Team reveal further explains why Ackerson was so dismissive of John’s concerns about what he and UNSC Marine Talia Perez (Cristina Rodlo) witnessed on Sanctuary. The Covenant were using Sanctuary as a training ground by mounting an invasion ahead of glassing the planet. Ackerson didn’t want to warn Cobalt Team about the Covenant because he didn’t want the information to get out.

Had Cobalt Team been warned by Master Chief, they might have survived the skirmish at Visegrád, which would’ve clued more people in to the Covenant’s invasion of the human stronghold. Ackerson, who’s been asking Cortana to run simulations about Halo‘s Fall of Rach, knows that causing a panic will only cause more issues for the UNSC and ONI. Without the invasion information being public knowledge, key figures like Ackerson can safely (and quietly) make it off the planet. “We’re going to fight,” Ackerson assures Keyes. “We’re just not going to win.“

ONI Knows Reach Will Fall Even Before Cobalt Team Dies At Visegrád

Ackerson’s reveal that he’s part of a larger ONI/FLEETCOM conspiracy is a disturbing twist on the Fall of Reach storyline. Previously, Ackerson had insisted that he wasn’t replacing Halsey or disrupting her work on the Spartan program: the fact that he knowingly sent Cobalt Team to their deaths proves that Ackerson and ONI are willing to make sacrifices in order to craft a good story. Keeping Silver Team grounded on Reach plays into the scheme too. Even if Master Chief and his team don’t survive, it will appear as though the UNSC did everything it could to protect civilians.

Before leaving Reach, Ackerson pays a final visit to Dr. Catherine Halsey (Natascha McElhone), who’s still trapped in a virtual reality-conjured prison cell. The implication is that Halsey won’t be evacuated; theoretically, she’s out-lived her “usefulness” to the UNSC’s efforts. Ackerson promises that Halsey’s efforts weren’t in vain. In creating the Spartan program, Dr. Halsey built “the foundation of something extraordinary.” While it remains to be seen how, exactly, this notion will play out, it seems the heroic Master Chief and his fellow Spartans are being set up as scapegoats and martyrs.

Halo Season 2’s Visegrád Directly Sets Up The Fall Of Reach

Sometimes dubbed The Battle of Reach, Halo‘s Fall of Reach marks a major tactical win for the Covenant. Notably, the stronghold is the last major point of resistance between the Covenant forces and Earth. With episode 4, the aptly titled “Reach,” Halo season 2 is tackling the key event in the Human-Covenant War head on. However, it will likely play out differently from the event in the Halo universe’s primary canon. Not only is Master Chief primed to be a key player in the conflict, but the impending tragedy sets up an even more fraught dynamic between John and Ackerson.